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Episode 3 of the Alternate Timeline Series:

Episode 1: Murphy's Law
Episode 2: Battle Chess

Episode 3: Double Trouble v0.1

By Andy Searls

Characters are creations of Rumiko Takahashi

"spoken lines" - Japanese
<spoken lines> - Chinese
*thoughts*
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Chapter 2 - Small and Large
The next morning, Ranma rolled off the futon.  After he folded it up and
strapped it to his pack, Ukyo knocked on the door.  Ranma opened the door,
holding his pack beside him.  Ukyo peeked inside the room.  "Wow, Ranma.
How long were you planning on being gone?"

Ranma looked around the empty room.  The basket of ingredients looked small
sitting in the corner by itself.  "I dunno.  I hope not long."

Ukyo stepped into the middle of the room and looked around, chuckling.  "You
mind if I rent this out while you're gone?"

Ranma put his pack down.  "I don't wanna be gone that long."

Ukyo looked at Ranma before walking over to him.  She put her arms around
his neck and pulled him close.  She could feel his breath on her forehead as
she leaned a bit to put her head on his shoulder.  Ranma could feel himself
blush yet again from being so close to Ukyo, but he put his arms around her
and gently scratched her back.  They hugged each other for a while before
Ukyo stepped back.  She reached up and teased a few strands of his hair.  "I
really don't want to have to run this place by myself.  You take care of
yourself so you can come back to me."

"I'll be back soon.  I promise."

Ukyo wiped her eyes.  "Look at me.  I promised myself I wouldn't get all
mushy."

Ranma put a hand on her shoulder and opened his mouth.  There were a dozen
things he wanted to say.  None of them were things he was sure of.  Instead
of speaking, he smiled at her before picking his pack up again and silently
walking downstairs.

Ranma walked quietly to the Shinkansen station, trying not to think too much
about anything in particular.  His training trips before would always start
with a large amount of jabbering and babbling by the old man over how great
the trip would be.  Most of the time, the old fool was just vague enough
that Ranma realized he had no idea of where they were going or what they
should be training in.  Occasionally, the trip would be for something
specific, like training in Jusenkyo.  Now, Ranma was on a journey to undo
some of the damage that had been done.

The ticket at the Tokyo station was more expensive than he thought.  He
would have to be careful to keep enough for a trip back.  The good news was
that switching between the faster Hikari and the slower Kodama allowed him
to get near the foot of Mt. Fuji in about an hour.  He would have a good
start and should be able to get back down to Gotemba before it got too cold.
Even though it was spring, and the cherry blossoms were beginning to open,
the temperatures up at altitude dropped quickly after sundown.

He reached Gotemba uneventfully and prepared himself for the hike.  There
was a gate at the beginning of the trail.  A sign on the gate read "Closed
until July 1."  Ranma took a quick look around to make sure that no one was
around before jumping over the gate and running along the trail.

After reaching a comfortable distance into the forest, he slowed down and
enjoyed the scenery.  There was a stillness in the air that Ranma hadn't
known for some time.  There was no wind to disturb the trees.  Occasionally,
he could hear some small animal scurry away as he approached.  The air was
crisp and cool.  He soon found himself at the first resting spot, a small,
simple lodge with basic amenities.  He wasn't surprised to find the door
locked.  No one was expected for three months.  He continued on, hiking past
other lodges and rest stops, and enjoying the stillness and solitude.

It was near lunchtime when he reached a lodge that was at the tree line.
There were spots of melting snow clinging to the shadows.  From that point
on the trail, he could see the snow line a few minutes walk away.  He
relaxed for a moment at the lodge, taking the opportunity to dig the
instructions out of his pack.  After reading the instructions again, he
realized that he would have to be careful not to lose any landmarks in the
snow.  For a moment, he wondered if it might be better to wait until the
trails were officially open and more snow had melted.  He re-tied the flap
on his pack put it back on, leaving the instructions in his hand.  He didn't
want to wait.

He didn't get too far into the snow before he realized that he should have
gotten a set of boots.  The snow stuck to his shoes and had begun to melt.
He could feel the cold, but he had put plastic bags on under his shoes, so
he wasn't getting wet.  He wondered how quickly his feet would get cold.  *A
martial artist is ready to give his life for the cause.  Surely, some cold
feet can't keep him back.*  Ranma pushed the encouragement out of his head.
It reminded him too much of the old man.

The next lodge still had some snow on the roof.  A small breeze gave Ranma a
shiver as he looked at the white blanket.  The trail continued on at a
decently steep climb.  After looking down at the instructions for a moment,
Ranma turned and headed across the slope.  He trudged on for a few hundred
meters before clearing a ridge and looking into the small gully that ran
down the slope.  He looked along the bottom of the gully and saw nothing but
snow.  He looked back at the instructions.  A gust of wind gave him a chill.
He walked straight across to the bottom of the gully, noticing that the
ridge offered little protection from the wind.  He looked at the
instructions yet again before climbing straight up the gully, counting each
step as he went.

  **  **  **

Ukyo enjoyed the short walk to the park.  She would only need an hour or so
to open the restaurant and prepare it for the evening rush.  Even so, she
didn't have a lot of time.  She reached the park, clutching an empty bento
box in both hands.  She stared at the cherry trees with breathless wonder.
A little gust of wind swept through the park, knocking some of the blossoms
loose.  She watched the parents and children sitting under the trees, the
dropping blossoms falling on them like light, fluffy snowflakes.  The
children were running between the trees, laughing and shrieking with joy.
The parents watched the kids calmly, many of the smiling openly.

Ukyo stayed just outside the scene and sighed before walking up to the
nearest tree.  She opened the bento and held it beneath a low branch.  When
she tapped the branch, the entire tree dropped a blanket of blossoms.  More
of the blossoms landed on her than in the box.

"Are you trying to cover yourself?"  a voice said from behind her.

Ukyo turned around and saw Akane.  She was still in her school dress, and
Ukyo thought that she must have just gotten out of school.  "Akane, what
brings you to the park?"

"It's not that far out of the way, so I like to stop by every once in a
while on my way home and notice how the seasons change."

Ukyo blinked.  "Notice how the seasons change?"

"Yeah."  Akane reached up and plucked a small blossom.  "In the summer,
everything is so green.  The kids are playing and everything seems bigger
and fuller.  In the fall, the trees turn the most beautiful colors and cover
the ground with their leaves.  In the winter, I can sometimes come to see a
fresh new white blanket of snow.  It looks so peaceful when there aren't any
footprints in it, and when there are footprints, there's usually a few snow
angels or snowmen decorating the park."

Ukyo stared at Akane.  "You actually take the time to stop and look at all
that?"

Akane nodded, smiling.  She twirled the blossom in her hand.

"Wow, I've always been so busy with one thing or another that I rarely had
the time to look at the scenery.  When it snowed, I just thought about how
cold it was going to be, and in the summer, I just thought about how hot it
was." Ukyo looked back at the scene she had enjoyed moments before.  "Well,
I have to admit that the park sure looks nice right now."

Akane held the blossom up to Ukyo.  "You should stop every once in a while
and smell the blossoms."

Ukyo took the blossom and smiled back to Akane.  She smelled the blossom.
It made her wonder when the last time was that she smelled a flower.  At the
same time, she realized what Ranma must see in Akane.

Akane looked down at the bento.   "So, what cha' doin'?"

Ukyo put the flower down in the box.  "I'm gathering up cherry blossoms for
Ranma."

Akane furrowed her brow.  "For Ranma?  He likes flowers?"

"No... I don't think so.  He's trying to get some sort of cure together."

Akane blinked.  "You mean he's found a cure for his curse?"

"He thinks so.  We won't know for sure until he's gotten everything together
and tries it out."

Akane took some time to allow the news to sink in.  Each time she had seen
Ranma deal with his curse, he was either very angry or more than a little
sad.  She could barely imagine how deeply he would want to get rid of it
once and for all.  "Wow."  Finally, Akane came back to the present and
looked back at Ukyo.  "Hey, you want some help getting blossoms?"

Ukyo lifted the bento box, which had a small handful of flowers in it.
"Yeah.  You saw how well my first attempt worked.  I just wish I had time to
go back for a blanket."

"Well, you can put the box down here, and I'll sit down in front of it and
hold my dress out.  That way, all the flowers that land in front of me will
fall into the box, too."

"Thank you," Ukyo said, putting the box down beneath one of the lower
branches.  Akane kneeled in front of the box and held her skirt out, forming
a partial funnel leading into the box.  Ukyo shook the branch, and blossoms
were quickly covering Akane's head as well as falling down into the box.
After a few more shakes, Akane swept up several handfuls of blossoms with
her hand and put them into the box.  It wasn't long before the box was full
of blossoms.  Akane put the lid back on, stood up, and handed the box to Uky
o.

Ukyo took the box and watched as Akane held her hands out like a ballerina
and turned a few quick pirouettes.  The blossoms spun off her head and
rained down at her feet.  Ukyo watched until Akane finished.  Akane giggled.
"I like doing that."  She knocked some more blossoms down and twirled again,
watching the petals fall off her head.  Ukyo tried it, and thought it was
fun.

Akane looked at the blanket of blossoms around the tree.  She sighed and
then looked up at Ukyo.  "So, where's Ranma now?"

Ukyo looked off to the east.  "He should be halfway up Mt. Fuji by now."

Akane looked in the same general direction, even though the mountain
couldn't be seen.  "Isn't it still closed to tourists?"

  **  **  **

The snow in the gully was much deeper.  Despite the fact that he was in full
sunlight and partially shaded from the wind, Ranma felt his legs get colder
as he stepped in the snow nearly up to his knees.  If it weren't for his
martial arts training, he would have tired out long ago.  When he had
counted two hundred steps, he stopped and looked at the snow in front of
him.  It was as smooth as the snow he had been hiking over for the past
hour, giving no clue as to what was underneath.  He read over the
instructions yet again, unsure of how to proceed.  *It's gotta be around
here somewhere.*

He took another step forward and sunk in past his knee.  Another step and he
was in the snow up to his hip.  He quickly tucked the instructions into his
pack and began to dig.  His hands quickly chilled, but he didn't stop.  He
had quickly dug a hole and still hadn't found the bottom of the drop-off.
He paused a moment to brush the snow off and breathe warm air into his
hands, noticing that the surface of the snow was now over his head.  He took
a few more deep breaths before resuming his digging.  Suddenly, his hand
fell through the snow into open air.  He quickly opened the whole and peered
inside.  There was just enough light getting inside for him to see the floor
of the cave.

He took his pack off and pushed it through the hole in front of him, using
it to make the hole big enough for him to crawl through.  He took a couple
steps past the snow and looked into the blackness, allowing himself a few
moments to warm up a bit in the shelter of the cave.  He was also thankful
that he hadn't gotten wet enough to change.  He fumbled through his pack in
the darkness and pulled out a flashlight.  The light allowed Ranma to see a
small spot on the rock wall in front of him.  He pointed the light around
and saw that the cave twisted down and to the right.  He straightened up to
stand and promptly banged his head.  There wasn't room to sit up straight,
let alone stand.  Grumbling, he pushed his pack ahead of him and supporting
himself with one hand, holding the flashlight in the other.

He followed the cave around the corner and stopped at what looked like a
dead end.  The pack was lightly wedged in at three sides.  He pulled it back
a little and the far end of the pack dropped.  Firmly gripping one of the
straps, Ranma let the pack fall down the hole to the length of his arm.  He
stretched his arm, but still could find no hint of the bottom of the hole.
He pointed the flashlight down, but could only see the top of his pack.

Grumbling, Ranma backed up to a spot where he had more room, pulling his
pack with him.  When he reached the spot, he crawled over the pack and tried
to turn around.  He tucked his head and felt himself wedge in from his hips
to his shoulders in the narrow passageway.  He fought to keep control over
the rising panic of being stuck.  He exhaled and tucked just a bit further,
allowing his shoulders to scrape past the rock.  He pulled his feet behind
him one at a time.  Then he backed over to the hole, pulling his pack behind
him.  When he reached the hole, he carefully lowered his legs down and waved
his feet around.  He could feel the rock wall, but still no floor.  He
pulled the flashlight over to try to see down, but he couldn't turn enough
to see past the corner of the ledge.  As he pushed against the wall, a few
rocks came loose from the small ledge and tumbled down the hole.  He inched
further down the hole, holding the pack as an anchor in one hand.  He held
his other arm out to brace against the wall with his elbow, flashlight still
pointed down the hole.  With each centimeter, he could see a bit further
down the hole, but not further than his thighs.  His feet still dangled
against the wall, no floor in touch.  He allowed himself down to his chest
and wiggled his feet.  Still nothing.  He carefully pointed the flashlight
down and pushed himself against the wall to make a larger gap to see if he
could get a view of the floor.

He did.  Not only were his feet were mere centimeters from the bottom, but
he could see that the hole opened up further down.  He dropped the short
distance, holding the pack above him as he ducked into the opening.  The
cave opened up into a small room, where he could nearly stand up without
bending over.  He walked over to the other side of the room, which stopped
abruptly with a large, dark boulder.  He didn't need to read the
instructions again.  This was obviously it.  He half-heartedly pounded on
the boulder.  *Man, Ryoga's breaking point technique sure would be handy
here.*  The air felt hot and heavy.  He hit the rock again, harder.  The
rock developed a small crack.  Encouraged, he stepped back and kicked.  The
boulder shattered, spilling rocks onto the floor.  A bad smelling steam
started coming out of the wall where the boulder was.  The stuff smelled
like rotten eggs.  He looked through the rocks.  There was a hole in one of
the larger rocks.  He kneeled down and reached to poke his finger through
the hole.  His finger stopped.  He looked closely and realized that the
thing he was looking at was not a hole, but a _very_ black rock.  The other
rocks were dark and jagged, but this rock was black and very smooth.  He
picked up the rock, noticing that it was almost egg-shaped.  His breathing
was becoming noticeably harder, and the smell was getting worse as the steam
filled the small cavern.

He carefully packed the black rock in his pack and pushed it up the hole.
He climbed up after it, and when he reached the top of the hole, he realized
just how hard it was getting to breathe.  He took a deep breath and felt a
little dizzy.  Pushing the pack ahead of him, he crawled the short distance
back to the mouth of the cave.  His flashlight shone against the snow, which
completely blocked the opening.  He clambered over the pack and began
digging at the snow.  He could feel himself hyperventilating.  He dropped
the flashlight and franticly began throwing the snow behind him.  His vision
began to narrow, and the blue of the snow turned to gray.  He could feel his
strength leaving him as his digging slowed.  He fell forward onto the snow,
feeling the cold against his cheek as he lost consciousness.

  **  **  **

Akane was practicing in the dojo.  She had broken a few bricks, but decided
that she would do better by going through a few kata.  It was refreshing for
her to remember some of the more basic ones.  She finished with a smile, and
looked over at the dojo shrine.  The dojo felt suddenly so dark and empty.
The feeling of dread that suddenly came over her confused her.  She ran into
the house, nearly sliding around the corners and skidding to a stop in the
kitchen.  It was empty.  The feeling became stronger.  She ran into the tea
room, which was also empty.  She sprinted to the wash room, where she found
Kasumi putting clothes into the washing machine.  Kasumi took one look at
Akane and dropped the clothes she was holding.  "Akane, what's wrong?"

Akane looked around the wash room.  "Where is everybody?"

"Father is soaking in the furo.  I think Nabiki is in her room.  Why, what's
wrong?"

Akane relaxed and sighed.  "Oh, nothing.  I just got this weird feeling.  I
was scared that something had happened."

Kasumi stepped over to the bathroom door.  "Father?"

Soun's voice drifted through the door.  "Hmmm?"

"How is your bath?"

"Just fine, Kasumi.  I'll let you know when I'm done soaking."

Akane said, "Thank you," loud enough for both of them to hear before walking
back to the dojo.

  **  **  **

Ukyo was comfortably in a cooking rhythm.  Some of the customers had to wait
while she served and waited on others, but no one complained.  They seemed
to enjoy the relaxed atmosphere, and the food was definitely worth the wait.
She walked back behind her counter for the umpteenth time and poured batter
for the next order.  She suddenly felt cold despite the heat coming from the
cooking surface.  She shivered and looked up.  None of the other customers
seemed to notice any temperature difference, and the doors were closed.

No, it wasn't a chill from a breeze.  There was something else.  Something
was wrong.  Something had happened.  It... no, it wasn't him.  It couldn't
be him.  She shook the thought out of her mind and tried to concentrate on
cooking.

  **  **  **

Ranma was floating.  He was cold. Slowly, he became more aware of himself.
His hands and feet were numb.  His nose hurt.  His face was wet.  Her face
was wet.  She corrected herself once she realized she had changed.  She
lifted her head and opened her eyes, grunting with the effort.  She could
see her arm stretched out in front of her.  Her hand was sticking out of the
snow into open air.  She looked around, and realized that her head was
nearly clear of the snow as well.  As she felt her strength coming back, she
gratefully pushed herself the rest of the way out.

She sat at the opening, breathing deeply and gathering her strength.  She
stomped her feet and beat her hands on her shoulders.  Painfully, she began
to get feeling back into them.  After she felt a bit better, she looked
around.  Her pack and flashlight were still in the cave.  She crawled into
the opening and saw the flashlight almost immediately.  She picked it up out
of the snow and looked around for her pack.  There was a small mound of snow
where she had been digging.  She pushed some of the snow away, smelling the
sulfur in the cave air again.  The pack was lightly buried in snow, and she
grabbed a corner and pulled it out of the cave just as she was getting dizzy
again.

She shouldered the pack and stood up.  Her footprints to the cave were
faded, but still visible in the early evening sunlight.  She gathered more
strength and climbed up to the ridge.  The wind was picking up, and the air
was quickly growing colder.  She had already spent too much time on the
mountain.  She looked across the slope to the shelter of the lodge, barely
visible in the distance.  She looked down the slope.  It would be dark
before she could hike back down below the snow line.  The lodge was a better
choice.

She was exhausted and shivering when she reached the lodge.  She dropped her
pack and rested.  The wind was getting stronger, and the cold was biting at
her hands and feet.  Her nose and ears hurt.  She took a few deep breaths
and kicked the locked door open.  Inside, she found a closet with emergency
supplies, including fresh water and blankets.  She unpacked her futon and a
dry change of clothes before closing the door and leaning her pack against
it.  She changed into the dry clothes, hanging the wet ones over the closet
shelves.  It wasn't long after she laid down on the futon and piled blanket
after blanket over herself that she began to feel warm again.  Very soon
after that, she fell asleep.

  **  **  **

Ranma woke up, not remembering at first where she was.  She stretched and
looked over at her pack.  *Oh yeah!* she thought.  *I got one of the
stones!*  She opened the pack and looked for the dark stone.  She felt the
hard, cold sphere and pulled it out.  In the shadows, the blackness of the
stone was absolute.  She opened the door for more light.  There was no
reflection in the stone, just the blackness.  She picked up the flashlight
and held it close to the stone.  The flashlight revealed an only slightly
less black, but very smooth surface.  It felt and weighed like a normal,
fist-sized rock, but the image of it made Ranma shiver.  Or was that the
cold?  The morning sun had not yet warmed things up.  Ranma decided to pack
up and get down the mountain quickly.  If she could get back down to Gotemba
in the morning, there was a good chance she could sneak back into
civilization without being noticed.

The hike downhill was easier and uneventful.  She could see the town in the
distance, and decided to leave the trail.  She headed for a couple of
buildings that were closer to the forest, giving her a better chance of
walking into town before being seen.  She walked between two of the
buildings and nearly bumped into a police officer {AUTHOR NOTE: park
ranger?}.

The man looked down his nose at Ranma.  "Hey, little girl.  Have you seen a
young man with his hair in a pig-tail around here?"

Ranma silently shook her head.

The man held his hand out.  "He's about this tall, was wearing a Chinese
outfit.  Someone said they saw him heading up towards the trail."

"I'm sorry sir, I haven't seen him."

The officer grunted and walked away.  For the first time she could remember,
Ranma was thankful that she was in girl form.

Deciding that the Shinkansen was too expensive to take everywhere, Ranma
decided to save her money and hike to the standard rail line.  From there,
she took the train to Shizuoka.  Her stomach was grumbling loudly when she
arrived, so she stopped by a yatai for some ramen.  Once her stomach was
happy, she hiked along the shore to a rocky peninsula.

She sat down and watched the waves gently splash the rocks for a while.  She
was glad the ocean was calm.  The second stone would be much more dangerous
to get to if the waves were any bigger.  The tide also helped.  She could
see by the algae on the rocks that the peninsula would be completely under
water at high tide.  She took the instructions out of the pack, noticing
that the paper was beginning to get worn.  She was glad she wouldn't need it
much longer.  She read the description of the location of the second stone
before putting the paper back into her pack.  The shore on one side of the
small peninsula was entirely made up of large boulders, creating an array of
small caves and tide-pools.  She found a suitable cave to hide her pack in
and climbed down to the water.

There were a couple of small pools at the end of the peninsula, both
sheltered from the waves by a pile of rocks that formed a pair of jagged
circles.  *Hey,* she thought.  *That's not fair.  The web page didn't say
anything about there being more than one pool.*  The two pools were about
the same size, and contained similar amounts of kelp, starfish, and other
aquatic life.  Small fish darted in and out of the shadows of the still
waters.  She shrugged and carefully stepped into one of the pools.  The
water was cool enough to keep her in girl form.  The fish disappeared into
hiding places as she stepped around the pool, looking for a large cave.  The
rocks were slippery with algae, and she fell down a few times despite her
excellent balance.  She was more than a little frustrated when she marched
out of the pool and yanked a strand of kelp out of her hair.  *It's gotta be
in this one,* she thought as she stepped into the second pool.

The second pool had a large, shadowy corner on the shore side.  The boulder
above it hid it from view until she stepped down to one side.  *That must be
it,* she thought, and took a deep breath before plunging underwater.  She
swam towards the corner, and could see that the corner was really the
opening to a cave.  She swam into the cave, using her hands to pull herself
along the rock.  The cave went straight in towards shore for a few meters
before opening up into a small cavern, similar to the one in Mt. Fuji.
Ranma could see that there was air at the top of the cavern, and surfaced to
take a breath.  She looked up, noticing that light fell through a small hole
at the top of the cavern, less than half a meter above her head.  She took
another deep breath and felt around the walls of the cavern.  She found
nothing, and eventually had to come back up for air.  There wasn't much to
see above the water.  She looked down at the surface and noticed a
reflection of the hole in the water.  As she tread water, the ripples from
her movements made the image shimmer, but the round shape of the hole gave
her an idea.  She dove down to the bottom of the cave and dug around the
loose rocks on the floor.  She picked up the smoother rocks, looking for one
about the same size as the black stone.  Most of the rocks were jagged, but
she still had to come up for air a couple times before she found a round
one.  She quickly brought it to the surface and looked at it.  The stone was
the same size as the first, and just as round, but instead of a deep black,
it was a pure white.  She smiled as she held the stone.  She turned, and hit
her head on the top of the cave.

She looked up and watched as she dropped away from the ceiling.  The water
level dropped, and then rose again, causing her to nearly hit her head
again.  She swam directly under the hole and looked up at the sky.  The hole
was way too small for her to fit through.  She was going to have to swim
back the way she came.  Even as she thought of it, the water level in the
cave rose a bit more, and she had to push against the ceiling to keep from
hitting her head again.  She took one last deep breath and dove for the
underwater exit.

She quietly wished that she had brought a bag with her to keep the stone in.
As it was, she had to hold it in one and pull herself along with the other.
She found her way to the cave entrance and looked up at the surface of the
water.  It seemed to be much further away, but that was probably because she
was running out of breath.  She blew bubbles as she kicked for the surface.
She reached the surface in time to gasp and sputter a bit.  The tide pool
wall was completely under water, and the waves were now breaking against the
rocks with more force than before.  She swam for a large boulder, still
clutching the rock tightly in one hand.  A wave picked her up and dropped
her onto the rock, causing her to slide down the slippery surface as the
water dropped away.  A second wave pushed her back up, and she managed to
hold on and climb to the top of the rock.  She walked back to the small cave
where she left her pack. She couldn't have waited much longer before the
waves would have reached the cave and gotten her pack wet.  She opened it up
and looked at the two stones together for a moment before packing them away.
Then, she shouldered her pack, climbed off the peninsula, and hiked back to
Shizuoka.

  **  **  **

Ukyo quietly cooked for her evening customers.  She tried not to miss Ranma.
After all, he had only been gone for two days.  She had no idea how long it
would be before he would come back.  One of her regular customers seemed to
notice her mood.  "Did you lose another helper," she asked.  "I notice he
hasn't been around this evening."

Ukyo sighed.  "No, I didn't lose him.  He's just on a journey.  He'll be
back."

"What about the kawaii red head?  Did you ever track her down and convince
her to come back?"

"Oh, I don't think we'll be seeing much of her."

"Why not?  She seemed to enjoy it around here.  Was it because of the
previous owner?"

Ukyo sighed again, remembering Nobu.  "Yeah, I guess you could say that."

"That's too bad.  She's so young.  I hope she's doing okay."

"Yeah, I hope so, too."

"She's doing great!"  Ranma said as she walked up to the counter.

Ukyo jumped.  "Ranma, I didn't see you come in.  When did you get back?"

Ranma sat down beside the customer and put her pack on the counter.  "Just
now.  I ran all the way from the Shinkansen."  She puffed a bit as if to
make her point.

The customer stood up and put her hand on Ranma's shoulder.  "I'm glad you
came back.  You make such a good waitress.  I hope you can stay for a while
this time."

Ranma looked up at the customer.  "Um, I dunno.  We'll just have to see."

"Well then," the customer said, patting Ranma's back, "matane."

Ranma and Ukyo looked around the shop.  A couple of customers at a table,
the last in the restaurant, smiled and walked out.  Ukyo dropped her spatula
and jumped over the counter to hug Ranma.  "I'm so glad you came back so
soon!"

"I'm glad to be back, U-chan," Ranma replied, hugging Ukyo back.  "Now,
let's get the store closed up."

"Oh, no you don't"  Ukyo stepped back, folding her arms.  "You are going to
go upstairs and unpack your room.  I'm going to close the store, and then
you are going to tell me what you've been up to these past couple days."

Ranma giggled.  "Sure thing, oneesan."

===========================
End of chapter 2

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-Andy Searls
  graduate, Borg Institute of Technology

If violence is not solving your
problems you're just not using enough of it.
     -Misato

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